1. Field
Aspects of the embodiments relate to a control point, an image forming apparatus, and a method for processing an event, and more particularly, to a control point, an image forming apparatus, and a method for processing an event, in which event filtering information is used to selectively notify an event generated in the image forming apparatus to the control point, reducing the load on a digital living network alliance (DLNA) network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile, or a multi function peripheral (MFP) which integrates the functions of the copier, printer, facsimile, etc., operate to print the print data generated by a terminal such as a computer onto a recording sheet.
The recent models of image forming apparatus supporting digital living network alliance (DLNA) standard are able to receive the print data from a variety of DLNA apparatuses, as well as a conventional terminal apparatus such as a computer.
The DLNA standard applies to digital information technology industry, and is focused on the interoperability of the devices to share music, photos, videos, or the like. The DLNA aims to achieve convergence between related industries, and establish a platform which is interoperable based on the existent standards of industries. The DLNA works on the introduction of guidelines for industries based on the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) which is applied widely among the manufacturers of electronic devices, personal computers, and wireless devices.
With the DLNA device, a user is able to access a variety of contents of a DLNA network using a control point, and output desired content through an image forming apparatus connected in the DLNA network.
Meanwhile, in the conventional DLNA environment, if an event occurs in an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus notifies the event to all the control points connected in the network. This raises a problem of increased traffic in the DLNA network, since the event is notified to not only a corresponding control point, but also the rest of control points which are not involved with the event. By way of example, the image forming apparatus notifies a print completion event to all the control points including a control point which requested a print job. If the other control points are portable devices connected in Wi-Fi manner, power is consumed additionally due to the unnecessary notification of events.
Another problem of the conventional DLNA environment is that the event of the image forming apparatus is transmitted to the control points in the order the control points are connected to the image forming apparatus. Accordingly, notification to the next control point(s) can be delayed if there is a control point currently disconnected from the DLNA network. It is more problematic if the currently-occurring event expires before being notified due to the delay. Therefore, there is a need for methods by which events occurring in the image forming apparatus can be processed more efficiently.